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Cultural figures support Lo Sheng Sanatorium

Community workers and activists yesterday celebrate the founding of the ``Taoyuan County Community Construction Alliance,'' which will be dedicated to ensuring that the Lo Sheng Sanitorium is preserved as an historical site. PHOTO: CHEN WEN-CHUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Several celebrities from the art world visited the Lo Sheng Sanatorium yesterday and expressed support for its preservation based on its cultural value.

Among the figures were Lin Hwai-min (林懷民) and Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢). Lin is the founder of the Cloud Gate dance troupe and Hou is a renowned film director who has won several international film awards.

Lo Sheng is a leprosarium built in 1930 where thousands of lepers were once quarantined for life. A plan to tear down most of the buildings on the 17-hectare site to make room for a Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) depot has met with strong opposition.

"People often believe the Lo Sheng case is a debate between a public construction project and a cultural heritage site ... That is wrong," said Liao Hsien-hao (廖咸浩), former director of the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs.

"It's not a win-lose game. Culture and public construction projects can actually coexist," Liao added.

Last year, a construction consultant company based in Britain proposed a design by which 90 percent of the leprosarium would be preserved, with the MRT depot being completed only a few months later than planned.

"We Taiwanese always try to arrange things. Why can't we arrange this?" Hou asked.

Hou added that Lo Sheng Sanitorium was a key relic in Taiwan's history.

"It [Lo Sheng] actually records our ignorance and the violence of the state in the past," Hou said.

Lin agreed, and warned that Taiwan would become a nation without memory if public works didn't respect history.

"We began to learn Taiwan's history in the 1980s. Yet, with cries for development, many of our historical markers have been torn down," Lin said.

"When I walked into this place, what I felt could never be replaced by history classes or textbooks," he added.

Since Lo Sheng's future remains uncertain, Hou said he wanted to make a documentary to record the struggle for the leprosarium's preservation.
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